Serendipity

The other day I was headed off to the chocolate factory with the crew from Delilah and Amanzi, or so we thought. We decided to stop by the office of tourism to check our directions while Kim and David of Amanizi said hello to someone they knew that works there. So we said our hellos and we are off to the chocolate factory when we heard Danny from the tourism office yelling to us on the sidewalk to come back. He told us of a sociologist; Jane Belfon who is sharing the history of Grenada with a group of his staff. He invited us to the seminar. Jane was an amazing speaker! She was just what I had been looking for. We discussed the history of carnival; former slaves started it as a stress release. The slaves watched as their masters hosted huge masquerade balls. The wearing of the mask during carnival has a much deeper meaning than just dressing up in a costume. She said you can hide behind a mask and do anything you want. So this tension release with paints, masks, drums and dancing has evolved from the history of slavery. She also talked about how the history of slavery was passed down orally, “each on tell one” (c’est qui tend parlez l’autve ba tend do demandez l’autur - for you French speakers.)

Grenada was governed by the French from1650-1763. In, 1763 the English took over and governed the island. In 1779 the French came back and in 1783 the English came back. In 1994 Grenada declared its independence. Therefore the language has evolved over the years with a broken English and French influence. Actually their language is a fascinating piece of their identity. Because of my work with Facing History and Ourselves, I loved this seminar. When it was over we went to eat Roti’s at the Nutmeg restaurant and discussed the seminar. For you chocolate lovers, we didn’t make it to the factory that day but we did go the next day.

I want to encourage all of you to visit our friends website: www.floatingclassroom.com
Kim and David (Amanzi) are using their website to connect the classroom to the Caribbean. They have lesson plans, with cross-curricular connections to Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies.

Michele